Tens of thousands protest to demand civilian rule in Sudan

Tens of thousands protest to demand civilian rule in Sudan
Tens of thousands protest to demand civilian rule in Sudan

Tens of thousands of people tookto the streets in Khartoum on Sunday demanding the ruling military hand over tocivilians, in the largest demonstrations since a deadly security service raidon a protest camp three weeks ago.

Protesters waved the Sudaneseflag and chanted "civilian, civilian" and "blood for blood"in several parts of the capital as security forces looked on. Opposition groupsposted videos of what they said were rallies in other cities.

Sudan's military rulers overthrewpresident Omar al-Bashir on April 11 after months of demonstrations against hisrule.

Opposition groups kept up theirstreets protests as they pressed the military hand over to civilians.

Talks broke down and protestspaused after security services raided a sit-in protest outside the defenceministry on June 3. But there has been a run of smaller demonstrations inrecent days, and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) opposition coalitioncalled for a million people to turn out on Sunday.

There was no immediate commentfrom the ruling military council which had warned a day earlier that thecoalition would bear the responsibility for any loss of life or damageresulting from the rallies.

Members of one of the mainopposition groups – the Sudanese Professionals' Association – said securityservices raided its headquarters on Saturday night as it was about to give anews conference.

The United Nations has said ithas received reports that more than 100 protesters were killed and many moreinjured at the sit-in protest on June 3.

Military leaders have deniedordering a raid on the camp and said a crackdown on criminals nearby hadspilled over to the sit-in. The council has said some officers had beendetained for presumed responsibility and it still intends to hand over powerafter elections.

Mediators led by the AfricanUnion and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have since been trying to brokera return to direct talks.

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